LONDON (Reuters) -Adidas reported what it said were better than expected preliminary fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, with strong sales and profitability for the important holiday shopping period.

The German sports equipment and apparel company said revenue was up 19% year on year in currency neutral terms while its gross margin increased by 5.2 percentage points to 49.8%.

Adidas reported sales of 5.956 billion euros ($6.2 billion) for the quarter, up from 4.812 billion a year ago.

For the full year, Adidas said revenue was up 12% in currency-neutral terms, hitting 23.683 billion euros ($24.7 billion). Profitability improved with the gross margin rising by 3.3 percentage points to 50.8%.

($1 = 0.9593 euros)

(Reporting by Helen Reid;Editing by David Goodman and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)